The Fintech Association of Sri Lanka (FASL) has formalised a strategic cross-border collaboration with APIX Platform, a Singapore-headquartered global fintech infrastructure backed by Temasek and Mastercard, marking a significant step in Sri Lanka’s ambition to establish itself as a connected node within the international financial innovation landscape.
The announcement was made at the FinTech World Cup, Sri Lanka Regional Competition, held on 31st March 2026 at Port City Colombo, an event that brought together fintech ventures, financial institutions, investors, and policymakers from across the region. The competition, organised globally by Trescon and powered by Ignyte, advances its winning start-up to the Dubai FinTech Summit 2026, where the Grand Finale will determine the world’s foremost emerging fintech enterprise.
Connecting Sri Lanka to a Global Innovation Infrastructure
At the heart of the collaboration is access to the APIX Platform’s extensive global network, which connects over 10,000 fintech companies and developers across more than 90 countries. Originally established by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group and launched at the Singapore FinTech Festival in 2018, APIX has since grown into a commercially operated platform with institutional backing from the LemmaTree Group, a Temasek-affiliated entity, and Mastercard.
Through this partnership, Sri Lankan fintech companies will gain access to structured cross-border innovation tools including global technology sprint programmes, institutional hackathons, and secure digital sandbox environments. These pathways open direct channels for engagement with financial institutions, regulators, and multilateral bodies across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe. The platform also operates a global application programming interface marketplace, providing a standardised foundation through which financial institutions and technology companies can discover, evaluate, and deploy solutions at scale.
Rajkumar Kanagasingam, Founding President of FASL and Industry Fellow at the Global Fintech Institute in Singapore, framed the initiative as one of strategic consequence for the region. “We are not just hosting an event,” he stated at the event, “we are opening a gateway from South Asia to the world. Fintech today is no longer just about technology; it is about who builds the future of finance. And that future will be shaped by ecosystems that are globally connected.”
Port City Colombo as a Gateway Between Financial Centres
The choice of Port City Colombo as the venue for the regional competition was itself a statement of intent. Developed as a multi-services Special Economic Zone, Port City Colombo is positioned as a neutral financial gateway at the intersection of South Asia, Southeast Asia, and the Middle East, a geography that FASL and its partners are now seeking to animate with active fintech collaboration.
Bai Xiaping, Assistant Managing Director of CHEC Port City Colombo, underscored the significance of the occasion: “Hosting the FinTech World Cup at Port City Colombo reflects our commitment to creating a globally connected platform for innovation and investment. It has brought together talent, ideas, and partnerships that can shape the future of financial services, while reinforcing our role in enabling an ecosystem where global collaboration can thrive.”
Together, the FASL and APIX collaboration, alongside Port City Colombo’s evolving mandate, advances a vision of Colombo as a pivotal point along a Dubai, Singapore, and Colombo fintech corridor, linking innovation capacity, capital access, and market connectivity across three high-growth regions.
A Showcase of Regional and Global Innovation
The Sri Lanka Regional Competition featured a curated innovation showcase spotlighting a selection of fintech ventures operating at the frontier of financial technology. Among those presented were RealX, an India-based platform focused on fractional real estate investment and the tokenisation of real-world assets; SUNTRUST Digital Innovations, which delivers enterprise-level digital transformation solutions; and NanoSoft Global, a provider of digital banking infrastructure for cooperative financial institutions.
An international jury evaluated participating companies following the Sri Lanka competition. The panel included Jochen Biedermann, Managing Director of the World Alliance of International Financial Centers; Takeshi Kito, Co-founder and Chief Executive of GFTN Japan; Syed Musheer Ahmed, Founder and Managing Director of FinStep Asia; Nicholas Drury, a former Global Research Lead at IBM; and Chia Hock Lai, Founding President of Singapore Fintech. The calibre of the panel reflected the seriousness with which the event positioned itself within the international fintech calendar.
A fireside conversation titled “AI and the Transformation of Global Financial Services” further elevated the programme, featuring Lakshitha Jayaweera, Vice President at Citi. The session addressed the expanding role of artificial intelligence across financial institutions, covering areas of innovation, risk management, and the structural shifts reshaping global financial systems.
Institutional Alignment and Ecosystem Support
The event drew support from a broad coalition of institutional and industry partners. These included the Sri Lanka Group of Tech London Advocates and Global Tech Advocates, the Sri Lanka Chapter of the Global Academy of Finance and Management, and the Asian FinTech Academy, which organises the Asian Digital Finance Forum and Awards and serves as an association partner of the Dubai FinTech Summit. Wall Street Fintech AI Inc. participated as Strategic Knowledge Partner, contributing perspectives on the convergence of artificial intelligence, portfolio intelligence, and next-generation financial infrastructure.
The APIX Platform’s existing ecosystem relationships with institutions such as the Monetary Authority of Singapore, SWIFT, the Reserve Bank of India, and various G20 innovation initiatives further strengthen the credibility and reach of the framework into which Sri Lankan fintech companies are now being integrated.
A Turning Point for Sri Lanka’s Financial Innovation Ambitions
For Sri Lanka, the significance of this development extends well beyond any single event or partnership announcement. It represents a deliberate effort to embed the country’s fintech sector within an international network of capital, regulation, and market access at a time when Colombo is seeking to redefine its role within the regional economic landscape.
By securing its position within a structured global fintech platform while anchoring that ambition to the infrastructure of Port City Colombo, FASL has demonstrated that Sri Lanka’s financial innovation aspirations are not simply aspirational. They are being built, institution by institution and partnership by partnership, into the architecture of a genuinely connected financial future.